


Quiet

by Miss_Nemesis (BetterThanburningontheceiling)



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Farmer isn't the reader, Farmer uses they/them pronouns, Mention of Death, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:15:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27251794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BetterThanburningontheceiling/pseuds/Miss_Nemesis
Summary: The Farmer was acting strange and Shane is worried. He finds them and offers them comfort.
Relationships: Shane/Player (Stardew Valley)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 30





	Quiet

It had started slowly, or at least slowly enough that he hadn’t noticed at first.1 They laughed less and less at his jokes, even the ones he knew they’d think were funny. They moved slower, sometimes even showing up late to their outings. They didn’t smile as much as they usually would, and when they did it often seemed to be forced. But it wasn’t until he’d seen them stumbling around town with dark circles and red-rimmed eyes that he connected all the events of the past few weeks together. Something was wrong, and he wanted to find out what. 

However, when he asked, they just gave him one of those fake smiles and said that they’ve been having trouble sleeping. But he didn’t press it. He knew better than most that if someone had troubles that they didn’t want to talk about, they simply weren’t going to talk about it. He just hoped that they knew that he would listen if they did want to talk. 

It was late and he’d decided to walk them home after spending the night at the Saloon together. They had been especially quiet the whole night, so he’d done most of the talking for them. 

“So, see you tomorrow then?” He asked as they went up the steps to their door. He had the next day off, so they planned to do something, maybe take a trip into town.

“Yeah.” They turned a smile that didn’t reach their eyes onto him, “Bus stop at 10?” 

He smiled back anyway. “I’ll be there.”

* * *

When 10 am rolled around, he wasn’t surprised to find that they weren’t showing up. He waited at the bus stop, watching the birds fly by and pointedly ignoring the looks Pam was shooting his way. But almost an hour past the appointed time and Shane gave in. He had to go and check on them. 

The first thing he noticed as he approached the farm was that its owner was nowhere in sight. He’d been hoping that they had just gotten caught up in tending to the crops and animals, but the crops were dry and the barns still had their shutters closed; clear signs that they had yet to be taken care of. For the time being, he ignores all that and steps up to the door and knocks. 

When he didn’t hear anything - not even Doug, the farmer's dog - the worry fully set in. Perhaps they just slept in, or maybe they left town, or they couldn’t handle the weight on their shoulders and- he opted to stop thinking and just try the handle. Surprisingly, it was unlocked. 

Inside, it was completely quiet. “Hello?” Shane called into the darkness, but received no answer. “It's just me. Uh, Shane? I'm coming in.” He stepped over the threshold. He’d been in their house plenty of times before, but somehow it felt like taboo, coming in uninvited as such. Since it was obvious they weren't in the main area of the house, he made his way to the bedroom. 

“Hello?” he tried again, “Is anyone home?” This time, he heard a little huff of a bark from further in. He peeked his head around the corner, and there was Doug, eyeing him warily from the foot of the bed. Above him lay a large lump of blankets, the farmer. 

“Babe?” He stepped over to the bed. They had the blanket pulled over their head, only their eyes peeking out from the little hole. “Are you okay?” Not that he needed to ask. Even without their actions leading up to this, he could tell that they weren't okay just from the look in their eyes. “What's wrong?” he asked, kneeling beside them. 

When they continued to not answer, he wasn't sure what to do. Seeing them so obviously in pain tore him apart, but unless he knew why they were hurting, there wasn't much he could really do. So, he stood, crawled into the other side of the bed, and fit himself behind them. His arms found the way around their waist to pull them even closer, flush against his chest. 

“Is this okay?” He asked, his breath brushing against their neck. They simply wrapped an arm around his in response. For a brief moment he thought that they were going to pull his arm off of them, because they didn’t want to be touched, but when the hand lingered, he knew that they were okay. 

The silence dragged on as he remained quiet in case they wanted to speak, and offering what little comfort he could offer. It wasn’t long before the silence was filled with soft sniffling. Beneath his grasp, their form trembled with held back sobs. There was some shuffling from the end of the bed as Doug shuffled up between their legs, his head resting on his owner’s knee. 

“I’m sorry.” They mumbled, voice quiet and hoarse. 

“It’s okay.” Shane responded, “I’m here for you. You can cry.” He waited, expecting them to say something. When they didn’t he prompted them, “Do you want to talk about it?” 

“Not really.” They answered almost immediately. He paused, about to tell them that that was fine. When they continued anyway. “My Uncle…” Their throat closed up as another sob wretched out of their chest, Shane’s heart ripped at the sound, “... passed away last year… Today is the anniversary.” 

He wanted to say something, anything to make them feel better, but he knew there was nothing he could do to help them. They curled into themselves, and he went with them. The next part barely came out through the sobs. “I didn’t even realize how important he was until he was gone.” 

Shane tore apart his head for something to say. “I’m sure he knew you love him.” 

“That’s not enough!” They cried harder, “I should have told him, I should have shown him that I care about him, but I just- I just-” They heaved, barely able to take in shallow breaths. Shane tried to hold them as tight as he could to stop their shaking.

* * *

Eventually, they devolve to only sniffles, their shoulders stop trembling, and the room returns to quiet. Both of them feel awful, but Shane knows how much worse they are. He feels sad, pathetic, and helpless, but he knows that they must be feeling absolute self-loathing and despair. 

Again, Shane wishes there is something, anything he could do to help, but really the only thing he can do is be here. With his chest against their back and nose nestled in their hair, he whispers as warmly as he can, “I love you.” 

He doesn’t expect a reply, and it’s quiet and rough, but they do. “I love you, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> This piece is entirely self-indulgent and took quite a while for me to actually finish. It was very difficult, but I kinda felt I needed to. Then I debated whether I really wanted to share it or not, but here we are so you know how that ended up. 
> 
> Normally I am all for constructive criticism, but this time I will not be accepting any in regards to the story. If you want to comment on the writing itself, like grammar and sentence structure, then that's okay.


End file.
